Kamala Sarup: Nepal Peace Agreement Concern

Nepal: Peace Agreement Concern

If the general
expectation of the people for lasting peace could be
transformed into reality, Nepal could once again be a land
of unmatched natural beauty with for ever cheerful, friendly
and hospitable people.

The cease-fire, or the temporary
agreement to stop the use of arms, between the government
forces and the Maoists is indeed a very welcome political
phenomenon. If the fighting parties do not come to terms,
they might go back to violent means again and again, but
what I feel and feel strongly is that we must always strive
for ultimate peace. We have a deep desire that this time
around there will be no break down of talks and a true and
lasting peace will be achieved, for we know not only the two
fighting adversaries, but all the neutral innocent people of
Nepal want the nation to be free, prosperous and happy. And
to be truly free and really prosperous and happy, we require
an open democratic atmosphere of mutual understanding,
toleration and cooperation. We must have peace to achieve
this kind of democratic goal in which every individual and
group has an equal opportunity of participation in the
administration.

23.5 million Nepali people want peace in
the country. This is the happiest moment for Nepalese. Even
recently, many people strongly called for immediate relief
packages and rehabilitation programmes in the affected parts
of the country both at the government and the local level.
The peace process would not last long if there is no
concrete programmes to address their problems. Without
settling the humanitarian problems, no lasting peace can be
envisaged.

It is in this dubious economic condition when
the agenda of national reconstruction was thrown overboard
that an extreme leftist element represented now by the
Maoists emerged in the country.

Like the people and their
needs, like their demands, everything is in a flux and the
constitution is also not above and beyond the universal law
of change. The existing constitution should not come in the
way of joining hands between brothers and sisters, nor as an
impediment to time-honored change. If we proudly advocate
the sovereignty of the people, we must also without any
reservation recognize their exclusive right of amending the
constitution according to their needs.

The cease-fire will
certainly enhance the position of the Maoists. They can
openly discuss their concepts and ideology and participate
in popular democratic activities. It is good to be able to
do so without taking recourse to violent means. Peaceful
means are more convincing to the people, stronger and ever
lasting. They have got this opportunity, which, I feel, they
will not let go in the heat of their ideological sentiment.
Armed struggle or the use of arms can succeed not only in
Nepal, but anywhere in the world, if it is launched under an
able commander. History has an ample proof of it. But it is
not a question of overthrowing a regime or conquering a
country. The main issue is the achievement of peace,
security, progress and prosperity for our nation. We love
Nepal and the Nepalese people. Our main objective is and
should be a free and fearless life for us all.

To promote
a permanent peace and respect for diversity through citizen
participation in programs that develop a consensus around
peace issues. To contribute to the definition of a permanent
national peace policy through action, ideas and research
aimed at the construction of a society based on policies of
social justice and sustainable, humane development.

Peace
is another name for the emancipation of the common people
and also equal opportunity for all the citizens. Our
ultimate goal is to achieve true democracy and to achieve
that goal for the happiness of all our people, we should let
all ideas, all concepts and all philosophies to have an
interplay for the free selection and adoption in which every
individual and every section of our people will have an easy
access and willing participation for a better
tomorrow.

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Journalist and Story Writer Kamala Sarup
(M.A.in Journalism) is an editor of peacejournalism.com.

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